Oppenheim R W
J Comp Neurol. 1986 Apr 8;246(2):281-6. doi: 10.1002/cne.902460211.
Motoneuron numbers in the brachial and lumbar lateral motor column (LMC) of the rat were examined quantitatively on embryonic day (E) 15 and postnatal days (P) 1-5. There was a significant (40-45%) loss of motoneurons in both regions between E15 and P1. No further loss was observed between P1 and P5. The decline of motoneurons between E15 and P1 is very likely due to cell death since there were considerable numbers of dying motoneurons present on E15. By contrast, few dying motoneurons were observed on P1-P5. Possible reasons for discrepancies between the present results and previous investigations are discussed. It is concluded that there is not a significant loss of either brachial or lumbar motoneurons in the postnatal rat and thus that postnatal rearragements of muscle innervation are most likely the result of axon elimination, not cell death.
在胚胎第15天（E15）和出生后第1天至第5天（P1 - P5）对大鼠臂部和腰部外侧运动柱（LMC）中的运动神经元数量进行了定量检查。在E15和P1之间，这两个区域的运动神经元均出现了显著（40 - 45%）的损失。在P1和P5之间未观察到进一步的损失。E15和P1之间运动神经元的减少很可能是由于细胞死亡，因为在E15时有相当数量的濒死运动神经元。相比之下，在P1 - P5期间观察到的濒死运动神经元很少。讨论了当前结果与先前研究之间差异的可能原因。得出的结论是，出生后大鼠的臂部或腰部运动神经元均未出现显著损失，因此出生后肌肉神经支配的重新排列很可能是轴突消除的结果，而非细胞死亡。
